Lankan aircraft lands on runway lights in Chennai
A major disaster was averted after a Colombo-Chennai Sri Lankan airlines aircraft carrying 180 passengers missed the centre line of the runway, damaging 13 runway lights. Four wheels on the left side of the aircraft were damaged.
Though the wheels were damaged, the pilot corrected the course and made a safe landing and also brought the flight to the apron. Refusing to give details of the accident, a Sri Lankan airlines official said: “We had an incident of tyre burst.”
An Airports Authority of India official said heavy rains on Monday morning could have affected visibility, leading to the aircraft landing away from the centre line. “The runway lights might have got damaged as the aircraft either ran over them or because of jet blast. The broken glass must have damaged the tyres,” an official said.
The DGCA has ordered an investigation to ascertain the cause and nature of the accident. Airport officials said the lights were replaced by evening. A replacement aircraft was brought in from Colombo and the return flight was arranged at 3 pm the same day.
-sundayobserver.lk-
